Lasagna

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ləˈzɑː.njə/

Definitions

1. A baked culinary creation made with layers of pasta, cheese, and usually meat or vegetables combined with sauce for flavor
2. An Italian casserole consisting of multiple sheets of pasta arranged with assorted fillings and baked until hot and bubbly
3. A hearty dish featuring alternating layers of noodle sheets, rich sauce, and either ground meat or vegetables topped with melted cheese

Etymology: The word that now names a baked tray of pasta, meat and cheese once referred to the cooking vessel itself. Ancient Greek "lásanon" meant a trivet or stand that held a pot over the fire, and Latin borrowed it as "lasanum," meaning cooking pot. Through Vulgar Latin, a form likely "*lasania" passed into Italian, where "lasagna" came to name the flat sheets of pasta that were cooked in such pots. The shift from vessel to food is the central twist. The pot's name slid onto what went inside it, and the dish took the container's name. Italian "lasagne" is the plural form, and English adopted the word in that Italian shape. Some scholars instead trace the Italian word to Arabic "lawzīnaj," meaning almond cake, which would give the word a different and unrelated starting point. This connection remains disputed, so the Greek-to-Latin route is the more widely accepted account.

Synonyms: pasta bake, casserole